The Wit

Photo by www.inetours.com

Move was a great show, but that as not the end to the day... I stopped by the Wit to meet a friend for a short visit. We only had an hour and ordering food did not look promising with the waitress who came over saying, "I will come back I have a million things I am doing right now."We managed to squeeze through to get a drink. A drink for her was a Mojito and my summer cocktail Pelegrino or Perrier with extra lemon. It was Saturday, but seriously I felt like I was abroad or back in the Philippines where it takes thirty minutes to get service, but I tapped by shoes together and I was "home" in Chicago. The Wit is suppose to be an excusive rooftop bar of a posh hotel and my friend loved it there except.... Priscilla was not sold and is a bit harder to please.

Regardless! What did we just talk about? Being alive and grateful oh yes! It was a beautiful day staring at Lake Michigan and the boats and catching up about our travels, boys, and boys... This seemed to be her department because I'm in the dark with all of that as I barely even go out anymore except for daytime stuff. She respects my new Chapter of life and prioritizing work and writing over socializing every weekend. I appreciate the respect and acceptance rather than judgement and persuasion.

THINKING ABOUT THIS CITY AND THIS LIFE GIVEN BY ONE

OUR VIEW FROM WIT

Greek Fest and Backyard Fiesta

Our time together was short, but definitely worth it. She was headed to a family dinner and I was headed to meet my Mom for Greek Festival at the West Chicago Greek Orthodox Church.It has been known that I have a thing for "Greek festivals" and in Chicago we have an area called "Greek Town," which has the largest Greek festival. This year it was raining therefore it ruined all the fun. This festival was a small one, but it worked out because I had my show and we had a birthday party in the city.

Okay that is all irrelevant, let's get to the important part: the FoodGreek food is great: souvaki, spanokipita, Athena Chicken, Greek salads, gyros, Greek cookies and loukomades(my favorite, but I am not allowed to eat at this time).

Sitting and enjoying our food, they start the Greek music dancing in a circle. I am sitting and counting their steps and recall the days in Athens learning from an old Greek man who was teaching my friend and I basic steps that felt advanced with a few glasses of wine. In this case, my Mom and I just sat in danced in our chair and decided we would not be the non-Greeks to come in and step on their feet. Even if we did, I think these people would not mind as everyone was very kind and lovely. This must be a representation of how fantastic the church must be!

PLEASE NOTE: I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT HAVING MORE FOOD PHOTOS, BUT THEY NEVER SEEM TO MAKE IT TO THE CAMERA;)

It all ended and the night was not over as it was time for live music at a friend's birthday party. They were playing rock music and speaking with a bass player, I apparently arrived two hours late for the Rocked out Blues session. Boo!Lot of nice people and what a spot for a birthday with a huge area of a subdivision taken over. Apparently, as long as the neighbors can all participate then it's allowed to happen and police won't come on disturbing the musical peace. It even had a real band stage, awesome selection of food(thanks for that), and nice table clothes and chairs. That's how you throw a birthday party! Love it

Priscilla loves, loves, loves all that Jazz! Jazz clubs are great, but festivals are even better getting to explore different styles of Jazz. This was a weekend event and one of the largest and best Jazz festivals on the West Coast. Blocks and blocks of food, music, promotional events, shopping, wine tasting, and dancing. Lots of red, white, and blue for the fourth of July holiday, but no visible fireworks with the fog in San Francisco.

The best part of all of this besides the food-the Calimari, the garlic fries, the smothered clams, and "Sky falling down" while eating a chocolate ganache cupcake-as usualThe PEOPLE made it all worthwhile>>>>>

Old Friends

BAILAMOS

The most adorable recreation of my old roommate and friend, Angie. Everything about her reminded me of her except her name was Natasha... and she didn't know an Angie

New Friends

A local SF girl of Vietnamese descent who owns her own jewelry business and just recently came back from a convention in Chicago. This girl comes to the Jazz festival every year.. for one reason... to see if this 75 year old man is alive...He is a living and breathing example of enjoying life to the fullest. His face lit up and with every dance and every woman:). She never asks for his contact info. rather she just makes sure he is still shining .......

-A lovely young couple from Oakland with a strong, intelligent beautiful woman and a man appreciate for it all. She drops marriage hints and I hope he is smart enough to put a ring on it. I was distracted by hearing about her baking of Peach cobbler and Banana cream pudding. I asked, "Can that be shipped via Fed Ex?"

And then there was Leroy-living his purpose and living for Jazz. After thirty years, he still gets stage fright. Since I'm now a Speaking professional(not), I gave him some tips for that stage fright. Who knows if they worked?

SIFT-WINNER OF THE CUPCAKE WARS AND.... THE SKY WAS FALLING DOWN WHEN I ATE THIS CUPCAKE!

Endless time at the Chicago airport as flight was delayed, but I had lots of writing to do for my Iowa course. But my happiest moment was not my plane arrival rather it was making it through with my oversized carry on! Often my ears are ringing in the morning with the TSA saying, "Maam, Maam you need to check that "Maam.' Caught in the action.

Oh how I miss the First Friday Art walks! We use to have these in Los Angeles with the streets filled and gallery doors wide open and artists waiting for wallets to open. Oakland's art walk was a bit more simple. Not to mention I arrived with only an hour or so left. Met up with My friend Sheila, blogger and own of Satin jewelry insert site her gang of ten people chilling and reuniting on the back patio.

Favorite stop: Solar Space with this beautiful artist:) This was a serious Brazilian/ African samba and African explosion. These women were shaking it like a salt shaker in the best and coolest ways of dance. Totally authentic and what a work out! The Man dressed like a Southern gentleman meets puff daddy, gave us a dance class, bongo drums, DJ, and trumpet player. To step off the plane and have this beautiful energy and feel so welcomed. It reminded me of the place I would like to live forever South America-somewhere, anywhere, who has a care:) As long as I have that amazing energy beating through my heart and people to serve to my maximum potential.Thank you Oakland and Sheila and friends!

As I attended with a couple writers, they were just "Full house lovers," which was most of the audience. I was concerned for these people so excited to hear about Full House and ask about his character. People don't realize that this man has a new character to speak about. Give him a chance.

When he walked out, he was confident, kind with PG13 humor. He had such great charisma and personality. He addressed everyone in the audience with such sincerity and curiosity. We had a moment when I asked a couple questions about "Writing and Memoir." His kindness connected right with me and he gave me this amazing response identifying his strengths, weaknesses, and editors remarks/comments. This man was so incredibly kind and supportive. I felt his support more than most people in my immediate environment. He cared about his audience, he cared about his words, and he cared about himself.

Where is all this going? Danny Tanner changed into his real self. In his book, he revealed his deepest, darkest secrets, exposed the truth, and identified with who he had become. As he said, it was "cathartic" for him and I would also add "liberating." The vulgar behavior was stemming from the desire to rebel against a "perfect self" that he definitely was not. This man started a new Chapter of life with this book by addressing the past, his present, and the future he wants to have.

This was just me the psychoanalyst in love with people saying "Yes!!!"Let people live in their own skin and be who they want to be. This is an example of what happens when you do. This man was glowing, happy, caring, and you could feel his positive spirit. This was not the man I heard of in LA. He started fresh with a new coat of paint! This is what Priscilla is rooting for in the life of everyone!

Thank you Bob for that fantastic and completely unexpected discussion. I am happy for your new Chapter in life!

Expect the Unexpected and Remember Everyone has a Story to Tell

Well our Full House friend, Danny Tanner has changed quite a bit over the years. It came to my attention when living in LA that Danny turned into quite a vulgar comedian. It was also clear to me he was going through a bit of an identity crisis. It's expected after aging, divorce, insecurities heightened by being compared to the most beautiful man ever John Stamos, but mainly being portrayed as someone you are not for ten years. What people don't realize is that actors are associated to a character for pretty much a lifetime. Someone will most likely, at one point or another in life, be able to recognize them and comment on their character. Fans have their own perception of how you act, talk, walk, smile, think, behave. Since they know that character-they know everything about you. How do I know This? I have had many interactions with celebrities and friends who were actors. It is just the scene in the superficially stunning-Los Angeles.

Clearly, this is not always the case, but if we can think about the actor-it's not an easy life being compared to someone who is your opposite. Danny Tanner is the opposite of Bob Saget and he makes this clear in his book discussion, "Dirty Daddy." From my psych perspective, it can almost be like a transgender person(not the same at all just a comparison) who is stuck in the wrong body. You eat, dress, walk, and behave like a woman, but your heart and soul is truly a man. Bob Saget did not experience anything with transgender identity, but his real self was hidden by a character that did not represent his true self.

Now, someone is thinking, "Why would you go listen to him promoting a book called Dirty Daddy?" This is some commercial garbage book ?"

If John Stamos was sitting beside him that would be my only reason. Unfortunately, he was not present. To be honest, I had seen his picture and had no intention or interest in seeing him, but then my psychology heart drew me in. What happened to this man? It was clear to me with just his book title that he finally decided to stop the bizarre behavior and just identify with his true self. People like this make me very happy and I wanted to witness that...and maybe tell him I love John Stamos ( sincerely the second reason!)